The bloodiest toll: 34 dead, dozens injured and massive destruction as a result of violent Russian airstrikes targeting the Ukrainian city of Sumy
Russian missile strike killed at least 34 people and wounded around 100 on Sunday amid Palm Sunday crowds in the center of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.
This new attack, one of the deadliest in weeks in Ukraine, targeted civilians and occurred two days after a senior US official visited Russia following the resumption of contacts between Washington and Moscow in mid-February.
The Ukrainian Emergency Service announced on social media, “Russia struck the city center with ballistic missiles while a large number of people were in the streets”.
The security services reported via social media that 34 people were killed, including two children,” noting that 117 were injured, including 15 children.
Authorities reported that people were injured in the streets, in cars, on public transport, and in homes, while relief efforts continue.
Local authorities in Sumy published images of bodies lying in the street, citizens running for cover, burning cars, and injured civilians lying on the ground.
Ukraine has declared a three-day mourning, after the deadly Russian attack.
According to Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, who confirmed on Telegram that Russia used two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles.
He accused the Russian 112th and 448th Missile Brigades of carrying out the strike, and called for the punishment of war criminals who give the orders and launch the missiles.
The attack came two days after a meeting in St. Petersburg between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s envoy, despite the US president’s public expression of displeasure with Moscow this month, which he accused of launching a crazy bombing of Ukraine.
Russia has intensified its attacks in recent weeks despite pressure from Trump to end the war.
In early April, a Russian attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rig killed 18 people, including nine children, shocking all of Europe.
Sumy is located about 50 kilometers from the Russian border and has been under increasing pressure since Moscow repelled a large portion of Ukrainian forces that had occupied the nearby Kursk region.
Sumy has so far remained unaffected by the intense fighting taking place further south in the Donetsk region, but Kyiv has been warning for weeks that Moscow may launch an attack.
Russia announced on Thursday its control of a town in the Sumy region, a rare advance in this part of northeastern Ukraine, from which its forces were forced to withdraw in the spring of 2022.
Ukrainian Army Commander Oleksandr Syrskyi announced on Wednesday that the Russians had begun launching attacks in the Sumy and Kharkov regions to establish buffer zones and prevent further Ukrainian incursions.
